Haas has officially announced that Oliver Bearmann will race next weekend’s Azerbaijan Grand Prix as a replacement for the suspended Kevin Magnussen.
Magnussen received the last two penalty points off his 12-point Super Licence, and was given an automatic one-race suspension, meaning he will miss the Baku weekend. Bearman is one of the Haas reserve drivers and emerged as an impressive substitute for Ferrari in Saudi Arabia earlier this season, and is now officially confirmed to race again in Azerbaijan.
“I’m excited to have Ollie piloting the VF-24 alongside Nico. [Hulkenberg] “In Baku,” said team principal Ayao Komatsu. “He has already shown great promise in FP1 and post-season testing, and he performed very well in Saudi Arabia driving for Scuderia Ferrari, scoring points along the way.
“This is another great opportunity for Ollie and the team to work together, this time across a full race weekend, and I couldn’t ask for a better teammate to recommend him than Nico.”
Behrman is set to become a full-time race driver for Haas in 2025 and believes his efforts with the team this season will help him make the most of his opportunity in Baku.
“It’s definitely a bigger challenge to be a reserve driver with limited preparation time, but fortunately I raced with Scuderia Ferrari earlier this year so at least I can use that experience,” said Behrman.
“I’ve already done four FP1 sessions with MoneyGram Haas F1 Team this season in the VF-24, so there’s no doubt it’ll be worth it to tackle a full race weekend in Baku. The team is in good shape at the moment and I’ll be taking as much time as I can to prepare as best I can. The goal is to go out there and have a solid weekend in Azerbaijan.”
Magnussen had 12 penalty points removed from his Super Licence after serving a one-match suspension, allowing him to return with a clean licence for the next match in Singapore.
